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NABRATIVE 

OF 

DIMMOCK CHARLTON, 

A BRITISH SUBJECT, 

Taken from the Brig "Peacock" by the U. S. Sloop "Hornet," 

ENSLAVED WHILE A PRISONER OF WAR. 

AND RETAINED 

FORTY FIVE YEARS IN BONDAGE. 



I 



DIMMOCK CHARLTON. 



.A. ZDZEEFTEasrCIE.. 

Tn the Anti-Slaverji Standard of Nov. 27th, 1858, a tissue of charges of the 
most severe and crushing character appeared, entitled "a caution," respecting 
a colored man, a native African, styled John Bull. This name was given him 
by his British captors of the Peacock, in 1812, who took the Spanish slaver into 
which he was thrust, when first kidnapped from Sierra Leone, his native home. 
In the engagement with the Hornet, he became a prisoner of the United States, 
and was fraudulently retained as a slave, when demanded in the exchange of 
British prisoners, and with wilful falsehood reported dead of a fever. A series 
of gross injustice baffled every effort for freedom, and continued his slavery 
from youth to grey hairs; and he has but recently recovered his liberty, after 
%b years of bondage in its most aggravated forms. Soon after the publication 
of the above named "caution," a most respectful appeal was made to the Editors 
of the Anti-Slavery Standard, requesting them to re-examine the source of these 
charges. A minute account was also given of the causes of the misrepresen- 
tation, and with the assurance that there was no intention on the part of his 
friends to screen him, if they should be found true. But, if on a fair review 
of the whole subject the charges proved to be without just foundation, his 
friends united with him in claiming an honorable acquittal, so far as the same 
press can produce it, which has been made the organ of injury to his charac- 
ter. Such expressions as these, ''being wanting in principle," '• unwilling to 
work," "collecting money in Philadelphia under various false pretences," &.c. ' 
Certainly his appeal for the emancipation of his wife, a free woman of Nassau,-' 
in the British Isle of Providence, West Indies, and her four children and grand- 
children, now in slavery, were not "false pretences," but facts fully confirmed 
During his residence in this city since October last, he has applied to the friends 
of humanity for aid and employment, to assist him in obtaining his earnest 
wish, the freedom of his family in the South — ten persons in all — one gran! 
child, brought to New York by those holding her as a slave, has been libera led 
there by legal measures. Her freedom being established, he removed her to 
Canada, to prevent what he feared, her re-capture. This he accomplished v 
written as well as verbal authority, from two of the most respectable Attorneys 
in New York, John Jay and Charles E. Whitehead, they giving him the lull as 
surance that he had the sole right to dispose of her. lie had steadfastly de 

*Is thrro no method by which this fact, which run t><- well establi bed mv b I', id •■ 
freedom to herself and her descendants, now in bondage? Legal justice wijuld cau>< i ] i : '- ; 
to tall. 



clined to bind his little girl to one of the members of the Anti-Slavery Society, 
who had been interested in her emancipation, and this decision, and his removal 
of her to Canada, his eminent lawyer, John Jay, declares he believes to be the 
only charge they have against him. Can we wonder, after such sad experience, 
at his unwillingness to put any chain upon her newly enfranchised form and 
soul? They say he threatened to shoot a colored man sent to prevent his re- 
moving her — if he dared to lay a hand upon her. This he freely acknowledges, 
as prompted by his agony, and which he does not defend as right. He says, 
"I am sorry, but I was provoked; " he might have said, tortured at the thought 
of her being again in bonds. 

It will be only necessary here to add that his course in Philadelphia has 
been under strict observance of those make this appeal and defence. They are 
willing to show any inquirers who wish an honest explanation, the grounds of 
this attempt to vindicate his claim to sympathy and respeet. His statements 
in this city, so far from being "various false pretences," are substantiated by 
respectable authority, and his character given by a gentleman who says, "1 
have known him for 30 years, ever since I was a boy, and I never knew a man 
more injured by being deprived of his liberty and the fruits of his toil, after 
the contracts for his freedom were, on his part, faithfully fulfilled. He was 
always sober, industrious, peaceable and polite." This is briefly his warm and 
sympathetic language, given to us personally. 

No response being given by the Anti-Slavery Editors, the injured man feels 
compelled to make this statement in contradiction to their "caution," in which 
they say they were requested "by his Philadelphia friends to denounce him." 
We have no idea that such measures would be endorsed by the noble-minded 
friends of freedom in the Anti-Slavery Society, if they were acquainted with 
the particulars which "his friends in Philadelphia" have sought to place before 
them. There is one individual — the only one known to them who could have 
made such a request, whose statement in his own hand-writing, is, with other 
documents, retained as testimony that he threatened thus to publish him, and 
this, nothwithstanding the kindest remonstrance and explanation on his part, 
previously given in the presence of his friends, who used their efforts also, and . 
took all the blame from the accused, showing where the offence originated, and 
thai no injury was done or intended. 

The charge against the accused was that he was going about injuring his 
character, and retaining a paper of recommendation from him of which he de- 
manded the return. Of both these charges he was entirely innocent. An Anti- 
Slavery lady, of England, thought proper to call upon this person, whose name 
we omit, to expostulate with him on account of the charge he had made for 
board and washing for the accused. This was entirely her own act of kindness, 
not only unprompted, but without the knowledge of his other friends or himself. 
She had received the information in reply to her interrogatories of his expenses 
and the means of his support, without a word or look of complaint. 

As to the paper it was detained by the undersigned, to show to some friends 
as references, the inconsistency of charging the persecuted man with want of 
truth, and being an imposter as to his family being slaves, when the sole tenor 
of this paper, dated the 19th of October, was to confirm his identity, with the 
individual in the printed documents from the New York Standard, and also from 
his British friends. After sending him with this paper to us, lie came himself to 



manifest his interest in getting a pamphlet published and money subscribed; and 
at the time he sent it, it was accompanied by his note requesting our efforts in his 
behalf. A few-days, perhaps not more than a week elapsed, till this well meant 
expostulation of the English lady, changed the whole current of his proceed- 
ings. When ■we expostulated with him as to the date of this paper which he 
wished to recall before we had made it serve as a reference to vindicate rim ac- 
cused, Ave asked why did he send him to us as a person worthy of sympathetic 
aid, if certain letters which he then produced from New York, against him, 
were then in his possession, and which he now claimed as authority against 
him. He at first attempted to represent that they were not then received; he 
afterwards, when the dates were shown him as four and five days previous, said 
"the. truth was because I placed no confidence in the charges they contained." 
Now these, with further discrepancies, are only narrated or retained for the re- 
moval of aspersions, which must crush his efforts to support himself, and to 
liberate his beloved and suffering family. That these particulars are reluct- 
antly given in this form, will be evident to all who may read the statement pre- 
sented before the close of last, year, to the Editors in New Fork, the pacific 
tone and forbearing expostulations of which, we think, with the exigencies of 
the case, demanded a reply, other than silence. 

Mary L. & Susan II. Cox. 
S. E. cor. of Race and 7th Sts., opposite Franklin Square. 
riulada., o mo. 7th, 1850. 

N. B. — Robert C. Beatty, Cashier of the Bank of Bristol, Penna.. gives :>i> 
name as a reference. During the temporary residence of his family in this 
city, thro' the past winter, he had with them an opportunity of knowing the in - 
jitred man, and his name was one of six signatures appended to the appeal to the 
Editors in New York. No application was made for more names, or, unques- 
tionably, they might have been obtained, and of equal respectability. 



From the New York Times. 

The history of Solomon Novthrup — a free citizen of New York, who spent 
many years in Southern Slavery — is fresh in the memory of our reifders. We 
yesterday heard narrated another slave history rivalling it in interest, though in 
many respects of a very different character. The subject of it is a venerable and 
intelligent native African, recently arrived here from Savannah, Georgia, where 
he was known as Dimmock Charlton, and served more than forty years as the 
slave of various parties, while he claims to have been a British subject, and 
entitled to British protection. The man's face is an honest one, and his integ- 
rity and reliability are so well vouched for that it would be found difficult to 
doubt or discredit his story. Indeed, he tells it in so straightforward, frank 
and simple a manner as to carry conviction with it. Although utterly unedu- 
cated, unable even to read or write, he displays a degree of intelligence and an 
amount of sagacity, sound sense and native shrewdness which would do no 
discredit to his formes masters, however great their opportunities for montal 



culture. We propose to give his history as received from his own lips, trusting 
that it will not only interest the reader, but that it may stimulate efforts among 
the philanthropic to crown with well deserved happiness the declining years of 
this dark-skinned hero, by restoring to freedom those of his family who are still 
held in servitude. 

Our subject is now, as near as he can judge, 57 or 58 years of age, a native 
of Kissee, peopled by a tribe of the same name, settled on one of the great 
rivers in the interior of Africa — or, as he expresses it, "away up on the fresh 
water." His name was Tallen at that time. AVhen 9 or 10 years of age, 
war was declared against his tribe by the Mandingos, who captured Kissee, and 
took its inhabitants prisoners of war. Tallex, with six other boys of about, the 
same age were a mile or so from the town at the time of the battle, but were 
pursued and taken prisoners. This, as well as he can calculate, was in 1811 
or 18112. The prisoners of which there were a large number, were all sent 
down to the Coast, sold to a slave dealer, and stowed away with hundreds of 
other unfortunates on board a Spanish slaver. The distance they traveled in 
reaching the seashore may be estimated from the fact that the journey occupied 
about four weeks. 

The slaver put to sea with its human cargo, who began to suffer the horrors 
of the middle passage, many of them dying for want of fresh air and exercise 
during the three weeks they were stowed away in her suffocating "between 
decks." At the end of this time the slaver was chased and captured by an 
English war- brig, but Tallen does not remember the name of either of the 
vessels. The prize and her cargo were taken to England, where the Africans 
generally were sent ashore until they could be properly disposed of. Tallen, 
however, who had meantime been christened "John Bull" on board the British 
vessel, was sent to the British brig Peacock, to serve as cabin-boy. Several 
of the captured Spanish sailors were also transferred to that vessel. At this 
time the war between the United States and Great Britian was in progress, and 
sometime afterward the Peacock was engaged in action by the little American 
schooner Hornet, commanded by the gallant captain Lawrence, which, as will 
be remembered, speedily put her in a sinking condition, and forced his crew to 
surrender. This was on the 24th of February, 1813. 

Subsequently our hero was sent to Savannah, Ga., in charge of Lieut. Wm. 
Henry Harrison, from whence the latter was to take him to Washington. 
Judge Charlton, of Savannah, proposed to Harrison to leave Tallex, or 
" John Bull," with him, promising that he would raise him for Harrison. The 
latter declined, relating the particulars of his history, and saying that he must 
take the boy as a prisoner of war to Washington, and let Congress decide what 
should be done with him, adding, as his own supposition, that he would follow 
the fortunes of the other prisoners in all respects. Judge Charlton then pro- 
posed to keep the boy with him until he should be wanted at Washington, 
promising Lieut. Harrison that he would send him on whenever he should 
write for him. 

With this understanding, Harrison left the boy with Judge Charlton. Two 
months afterward, Harrison sent for "John Bull," and Charlton replied that 
the boy had died — which of course ended the Lieutenant's interest in and care 
for him. The authority for this statement was Judge Charlton's waiting- 
man or body servant, an old man named Isaac, of whom John speaks in high 



terms. About the time this word was sent to Washington, Charlton called all 
his servants together and forbade them strictly ever to call Tallen " John 
Bull" again, but ordered them to call him Dimmock Charlton, after — himself 
by which name he has since been known. 

The very next day after this occurence, Charlton sold him to a French 
tailor of Savannah, named John P. Setz, who is still living at Augusta, Ga. 
He was sent down to Setz's house in the morning, and staid there all day, but 
at night expressed his intention of " going home." Setz told him no,- — to stay 
where he was, that he belonged to him now. Dimmock, as we shall now call 
him, replied, asserting that he was a free man and could not be sold. Setz, in 
answer, said that Charlton bought clothes of him, and gave Dimmock in pay- 
ment, and again ordered him to stay where he was and go to work. The boy 
attempted to run away, but Setz caught and brought him back. Being sent 
down into the kitchen, he slipped out of the back door, went to Charlton's 
and asked if he had sold him. The Judge replied in the negative. Just then 
Setz, in pursuit, came into the house, and seized the boy to drag him oft". 
Charlton interfered, took Setz one side, had a short talk with him, and then told 
Dimmock that he wanted him to go and learn the tailor's trade with the French- 
man. Having become alarmed at the proceedings, he positively refused to stir 
a step, unless dragged away by force. 

Charlton then told Setz that he had better take the boy away from the 
city. This information also was derived from the waiting-man Isaac. As the 
Frenchman had a store in Augusta, he took Dimmock there. Thirteen months 
later he sold him to Captain Dubois, who was commander of the Pulaski at the 
time of her wreck. At that time he commanded the steamer Samuel Howard, 
but was building General Washington, to run between Savannah and Augusta, 
and bought Dimmock to go on board of her as steward. After living with Cap- 
tain Dubois two years, the latter sold him to Captain Davidson, of Savannah, 
who, in turn, sold him to one Wm. Robinson, of the same city. Dimmock's 
superior intelligence showed him that by hiring his time of his master, ami 
working for himself, he could save money to purchase back the freedom of 
which he had been robbed. He formed his plans accordingly, and put them in 
executio'n, finding employment as a superintending stevedore, and earning lib- 
eral wages in loading cotton for export, at which he seems to have been very 
successful. He arranged with Robinson to purchase himself at the price of 
$800. This he soon saved by hard work and economy, paid the entire sum in 
in cash, and was then immediately sent to jail and kept there until his cruel 
master had found a purchaser to take him off his hands. 

His next master proved to be James Carr, then and now employed in the 
Planters' Bank of Savannah. Dimmock ventured to express to Carr the hope 
that lie would not serve him as R,obinson had, and related how villainously he 

had been used by him. Carr replied that Robinson was a d d scoundrel, 

but that he would deal justly with him. Thus encouraged, Dimmock again 
hired his time, and proceeded to toil once more for liberty, agreeing with Carr 
that he should have the privilege of purchasing himself at the price which was 
paid to Robinson, which he supposed was $700. At the time of his purchase 
by Robinson, he carried the latter $300, and four months latter gave him $400 
more. Subsequently, he ascertained from Robinson that all Carr paid him 
was $450. Thus was the poor fellow again swindled out of the gold for which 
he had toiled so faithfully. 



In the meantime he had married a slave woman [a free woman of Nassau, 
Providence Isle in the West Indies, enslaved by T. Pratt, senior, who took her 
and her parents and sisters to Savannah,] by whom he had two daughters. 
These all belonged to Mr. Pratt, of Savannah, of whom Dimmock speaks very 
gratefully. Pratt finding that he would be compelled to sell his servants told 
Dimmock, and said he would sell them reasonably to enable him to get some one 
to buy them who would not send them off. Not having yet learned that his 
master had deceived him, Dimmock went to Carr, told him the case, and soli- 
cited his aid to buy his wife and children, telling him that he had some little 
money, — that it would probably cost $2,000 to make the purchase, and that he 
would soon give him the balance. At this time he had $1,500, earned in steve- 
doring, hid away dollar by dollar in a tin case buried in the earth. This sum 
he carried to Cake, who purchased the family. 

When he met Mr. Pratt afterwards, Dimmock learned that he had sold the 
woman and children for $G00 only, and had received that sum from Carr and 
no more, supposing that he was giving the difference between it and their actual 
value, to the husband and father. Upon his asking Carr what he had done 
with the $900 balance, the later laughed, told Dimmock that he had the money 
in Bank for him, and to say nothing to anybody, that he and his family were 
all free now, but to keep it to themselves, and live quietly with him. Thinking 
they were in reality free, and could not be sent off again among strangers al 
any man's will, which was what they most dreaded, _Dimmock and his wife re- 
mained under Carr*s "protection," quite contented for many years. Finally, 
by representations made to his wife, Carr caused a separation between the 
parties, and then sold the father to Mr. Hudson, of Savannah, the wife to Mr. 
Cummings, and the children, — of whom there were now several, — each to a 
different purchaser, thus almost hopelessly breaking up the family. 

To this time Dimmock had carefully concealed from his masters his claim to 
liberty as a British subject. He foresaw that if it became known to them, they 
would be likely to sell him off into the interior somewhere, and that then he might 
bid farewell to all thought of ever regaining his liberty. So long as he could keep 
in a seaport like Savannah, he knew he could earn and save money, and then 
his chance of making good his claim to British protection would always be 
hotter than if upon an interior plantation isolated from the busy world. But 
when he found his family broken up, and all of them again in slavery, his heart 
was crushed, and he became reckless. He had repeatedly sought the protec- 
tion of the British Consul at Savannah, Mr. Molyneaux, but that functuary 
refused to interfere in his behalf, apparently fearing to do so, and probably 
looking upon Slavery as a very satisfactory condiiion for a man with a black 
skin — a theory which he illustrated by himself holding slaves. When Hudson 
bought him, Dimmock asserted his right to freedom, and told him his sidry. 
Hudson evidently was satisfied with the truth of his statement, and conse- 
quently that he was very insecure property to hold; so he sent him to a trader 
for sale. Mr. Davidson, a liquor dealer near the market in Savannah, became 
his purchaser. He lived with him two years, when Davidson came to him one 
day, told him he had heard that he claimed to be a British subject, and asked 
him what were the facts. He, too, was convinced of the truth of the singular 
history, and immediately sent him again to a slave;dealer, for sale at a pur- 
chaser's risk. Mr. Benjamin Garman bought him for $550, in order to give 



Dimmock another opportunity to purchase himself. This Avas a little more 
than a year ago, since which time the poor fellow has returned the purchase 
money, and a few days since came on here in the steamer Alabama, lest some 
new device should be found to deprive him of the liberty he has been forty-five 
years in pursuit of. 

Among the Spanish sailors captured on board the Peacock, with Dimmock, 
was one named Mingo. Between these two, a lasting friendship sprang up, 
and they have managed to work together during all their many years residence 
in Savannah. A year ago, by advice of a friend, Dimmock took Mingo before 
a lawyer, who prepared the necessary affidavits setting forth the facts, of his 
capture and his title to recognition as a British subject. To this Mingo made 
oath in due form. A day or two afterwards, he was arrested upon the charge 
of drunkenness, and thrown into prison, where he died very suddenly and 
mysteriously. The proofs however, are deemed ample to establish Dimmock's 
claim ; and his purpose is, if possible, to bring suit to recover damages of Cakr 
and others for his long detention in Slavery. Whatever means he can realize 
from this source, or from the donations of the charitable, he desires to appro- 
priate to the release from Slavery of his wife and children and grandchildren. 
Ifis oldest child Virginia, is in Savannah with three children. The next, 
Christiana, has one child. The third, Elizabeth, has two. Besides these, 
he has a son who belongs to lawyer O'Byrne, of Savannah, who has befriended 
Dimmock in his recent undertakings. 

Since his arrival here, Dimmock has called upon the Acting-British Consul 
to make good his title to protection as a British subject, with a view to prose- 
cuting his oppressors. That official sent him to his counsel, Mr. Edwards, 
who discourages him from attempting to do anything because the case has laid 
*o long. If there is a statute of limitations which deprives a subject of redress 
for wrong, when he has been prevented by force from calling for it sooner, the 
Brit ish Government will probably announce the fact when this case is brought 
fairly before them. That Dimmock Charlton is entitled to redress from some 
quarter is certaiu — and the question remains for practical decision who is re- 
sponsible for it. Either the Government of the United States or that of Great 
Britian is bound by every consideration of humanity and justice to see that he 
receives some compensation for his life of oppression and cruel wrong. 



From the Anti-Slavery Reporter. 

We venture to crave the attention of our friends to the following tale of a slave. It 
is extracted from the columns of the National Anti-Slavery Standard, and we will, in 
due place, complete the history. 

"The fact was briefly stated, in last week's Standard, of the freedom of a little girl, 
held as a slave, having been secured under a writ of Heabaa Corpus, before Judge 
Robertson, in AVest Chester county; and a promise was given that the details relating 
both to the child ami its grandfather, who appeared on its behalf, should be given in a 
future number. We redeem the promise, in the hope that the story may be as inter- 
esting and instructive to our readers as it has been to ourselves. 



"Several weeks ago a black man called upon us to agk for aid and advice in getting 
possession of his grandchild, a little girl of five or sis years, who, he said, was some- 
where in this city, under the care of two ladies, sisters, by the name of Kerr, and who 
would, he feared, carry the child back to the South and to slavery, whence they had 
brought her a few months before. On inquiring farther into his and her history, we 
learned that he had recently arrived here from Savannah, having purchased his freedom 
of his master, Mr. Benjamin Garman : that all his kindred about whom he knew any- 
thing, wife, children, and grandchildren, were still slaves, except only this little one, 
now in New York, in the possession of the Misses Kerr; and that, for his own sake as 
well as hers, he was desirous of securing the child, and placing her where her freedom 
should lie beyond the reach of either accident or hostile design, and where, by his exer- 
tions, he could fulfil to her the duties of a parent, and secure for her liberty, at any 
rate, and happiness - as far as it should lie in his power. 

"It is hardly necessary to say that this statement was enough to enlist the sympa- 
thies and command the active exertions of any one professing to hold either principle 
or feeling in regard to slavery; but the appeal was irresistible when we came to hear 
from the man's own lips the romantic and touching history of his own life. To some 
of our readers, perhaps, this is already familiar, as it was told, at about the time we 
allude to, in a morning paper in this city. We have delayed relating it, as the less that 
was said about it publicly, till the fate of the grandchild was decided, the better: and 
we wished, moreover, to hear what contradiction or corroboration it might call forth, as 
undoubtedly it would provoke either one or the other within a short period. The event 
has justified the delay, and we are enabled now to record the story with more entire 
confidence than we hardly dared feel when we first heard it, while we have the satis- 
faction also of rounding off the tale with the successful appeal for the freedom of the 
child, and her restoration to the arms of her grandparent. 

"Dimmock Charlton, for by this name he has been known for most of his life, though 
he has now re-assumed an earlier one, is a native of Africa. One would hardly doubt 
this who looks upon his intensely black skin, and listens to his broken English, though it 
may be easy for him to mispronounce or the hearer to misapprehend the name by which 
ho calls his people. He says, however, that he was born in a country called Kissee, 
on a great river in the interior of Africa — 'away up on the fresh water.' He is, he 
thinks, about fifty-eight years old, and he remembers vividly the first twelve years of 
his life, when he was called Tallen, and was a wild, untutored, and happy savage, and 
had never heard of Christian men or nations. But then a war broke out between his 
own and a neighboring tribe, and his people were conquered, and among the prisoners 
who were captured and driven to the coast to be sold to the slavers was Tallen. 

"They were about thirty days on this journey from Kissee to the sea coast; but 
once there, and they were huddled by hundreds, some from the tribe of Kissee and 
some from other tribes equally wretched, on board a Spanish vessel waiting for her 
cargo. Then came a voj'age of three weeks — three weeks of horror. The little savage 
from the 'great 'fresh water' of Central Africa, who had never heard of civilization, 
and had never been taught to believe in any other God than Fetish, took now his first 
step in that great scheme whereby, our Doctors of Divinity teach us, the Heavenly 
Father is to lead his race to the blessed knowledge of Christian light and life. He met 
the horrors of the 'Middle Passage.' He listened, day and night, to the groans of the 
dying; he suffered the agonies of thirst and suffocation; he saw his fellow sufferers 
taken up to be thrown into the sea, and might have envied them the early and easier 
martyrdom which was accepted as their share in the sacrifice for the redemption of 
their race. At the end of three weeks, however, the Spaniard was captured by a Brit- 
ish cruiser, and she and what was left of her human cargo were taken to England. 
Unfortunately Tallen cannot recall, if he ever knew, the names of either of these ves- 
sels. 

"On his arrival in England a pleasant prospect seemed, for a little while, to open 



before him. On the dispersion of the Africans, it fell to his lot to be put on board th» 
British brig Peacock as a cabin boy, and that vessel soon after sailed on a cruise. The 
Dr. Southsides, perhaps, will think that it was only returning him into the true path of 
providential redemption that this happened to be the cruise in which the Peacock fell 
in with the American schooner Hornet, and in the memorable naval battle which fol- 
lowed that encounter she struck her flag to Captain Lawrence. Tallen or, as he was 
now called, John Bull, a second time in his short caroer a prisoner of war, was brought 
to this country. 

"Here he fell in charge of Lieut, (afterwards President) William Henry Harrison, 
and for some unexplained reason, was taken to Savannah, Ga. In that city he was 
left with Judge Charlton, until he should be ordered to Washington, to be disposed of 
with the other prisoners, the crew of the Peacock. Judge Charlton proposed to Lieut. 
Harrison that he should leave the boy with him to be brought up, but this the Lieut- 
enant declined, as being a prisoner he was not within his control. Two months subse- 
quently ho sent to the Judge for his charge, and received for answer that the boy had 
died of the fever. Such was the statement made to John Bull by an old servant of 
Judge Charlton, named Isaac, and subsequent events seem to verify it. 

''The Lieutenant, John Bull never saw or heard from, again; but at about the time 
that he must, if the statement be true, have been sent for to go to Washington, and 
when the Judge returned him as dead of fever, he — the Judge — called together his 
servants, and announced to them that it was his pleasure that hereafter the boy should 
no longer be known as 'John Bull,' but thenceforward be called by that name which 
belonged to himself; and he incited them to remember his orders by that incentive 
which slaveholders usually supply to their slaves — the threat of the cowhide. There- 
after 'John Bull' was known only as Dimmock Charlton, and by that name he has 
gone ever since. 

"As Judge Charlton was, during his lifetime, a very well known person, a man of 
high standing and great respectability, a lawyer of some eminence, an author of one. 
or two law books, and one against whom we, at least, never heard any thing worse 
than that he published a volume of most dreary rhymes, it may seem incredible that 
he could be guilty of so despicable a crime as is here laid to his charge.* But we must 
remember that the act is to be measured by the code of slaveholding morality, and not, 
by that which obtains in more civilized communities. It might, indeed, be argued 
that men who steal men from themselves — the original owners — would not be very 
scrupulous in stealing from each other, were it not that the universal principle of 
'honor among thieves' would operate as a sufficient restraint in a state of society where 
its infringement would lead to the wildest confusion. But in the case of this 'John 
Bull' there need enter no such consideration. He, according to the code which prevails 
among our Southern brethren, belonged to nobody — was a mere waif and estray which 
the fortunes of war had landed upon our shores, from the coast of Africa, and anybody 
might pick it up wbo would be at the trouble. Some consideration, perhaps, might bo 
due to Lieutenant Harrison, but he had no claim upon the property, as property, but 
simply upon the man as a prisoner. If discharged of his duty to him, in that regard, 
he had nothing further to do with him ; and if persuaded of the truth of that conve- 
nient fiction, that the boy was dead, all remonstrance from him would be avoided; 
Judge Charlton would, in an easy way, be so much the richer, to the value of this 
particular piece of goods; nobody would lose anything except the Government, whose 
loss of a prisoner, who might be a burthen, would be a gain, and the poor boy himself 
would havo somebody to take care of him. So, perhaps, reasoned the Judge; so, at 
least, only could he reason to any sort of self-justification. At any rate, he took care 
of the poor African by giving him his own name, and selling him the next day to a 
Frenchman. 

* Judge Charlton was very intemperate. 



10 

"The Frenchman's name was John P. Setz, and he is still living in Augusta, Ga. 
Dimmock, when told that ho belonged to him,, protested, as was natural enough in an 
untutored and heathen African, not yot made acquainted by any Savannah divine with 
the good things God had in store for his native land, nor what his particular share 
was to be in that great scheme of Christianization, that he was nobody's slave, but a 
freeman. Setz, on the other hand, condescending to reason on the subject, asserted 
that the Judge, Dimmock's late master, owed him — Setz was a tailor — for a bill of 
clothes, and that the boy was transferred for the value thereof. An appeal was mado 
to the Judge. He denied to Dimmock that he had sold him, but had a talk aside with 
tho tailor. The result Dimmock soon learned; for the particulars he was indebted to 
his friend Isaac, the Judge's body servant. He was taken by Setz, in accordance with 
the Judge's advice, to Augusta, where, about a year after, he sold him to a Mr. Dubois, 
a steamboat captain. With him he lived two years, and was then sold, successively, 
to a Captain Davidson, and then to one Mr. Robinson, of Savannah. 

''In the course of these and subsequent years, and successive changes of ownership, 
Dimmock's mind became so far enlightened as, if not to reconcile himself to slavery, 
to suggest to him the expediency of recognizing it as his inevitable fate, and of find- 
ing some other way of escaping from it than merely protesting against it. He hired 
his time of his master, and being an industrious man, in the course of timo made 
money enough in his bixsincss, as a stevedore, to purchase himself of Robinson, for tho 
sum of eight hundred dollars. This man had no sooner received the money than he 
sent him to jail, and kept him there on sale till a new buyer was found for him. Hero 
again wo may think a sense of honor should have restrained this Robinson, as to our 
Northern sense, it might seem that Judge Charlton overstepped the boundaries of 
truth and justice; hut the slave code distinctly says that a slave can possess nothing, 
and that all that he has, or can earn, belongs to his master. Strictly speaking, there- 
fore, the eight hundred dollars, which Dimmock hoped would purchase his freedom, 
belonged to Robinson at any rate. To look at the subject in any other light would 
have been mere magnanimity and gratuitous generosity in Robinson ; and he, pro- 
bably, is not a man who permits himself to be carried away by such enthusiastic 
impulses. 

"The purchaser this time was James Kerr, of Savannah, who expressed a great deal 
of indignation when told by Dimmock of the manner in which money had been made 
out of him by his former master. Encouraged by this sympathy, Dimmock again 
commenced the accumulation of a fund for a second purchase of his freedom. Kerr 
agreed to accept as a ransom the sum he had himself paid to Robinson, and Dimmock 
at length put into his hands seven hundred dollars, which ho supposed was that sum. 
He afterwards learned that he had paid two hundred and fifty dollars too much, bill 
of course he had no redi - ess. 

"In the mean time, Dimmock had become a husband and father. A Mr. Pratt was 
the owner of his wife and children, and he consented to sell them ift a moderate prico 
to any one who would hold them for Dimmock till he could redeem them. He had nt 
this timo paid the price of himself to Kerr, but was not aware that that gentleman 
had quietly taken two hundred and fifty dollars more than the stipulated price. He 
interceded with him to become the purchaser of his wife and two children, with tho 
understanding that it should be on account of the husband and father. Kerr consen- 
ted, and the purchase was made — Dimmock putting into his hands $1500, which in 
the course of time he had accumulated from his business, and hoarded away in the 
earth. The sum he supposed Pratt would ask was $2000, and this he promised to 
make good to his kind master. His kind master accepted the trust, and went, as 
Dimmock afterwards ascertained, to Pratt and made the purchase for $600. When 
reproached with this breach of trust, and called to account for the balance of $900, he 
laughingly said it was safe in the bank, and gave his written obligation for it. This 
obligation Dimmock put in his trunk, but on one occasion, while he was absent from 



11 

home, the trunk was broken open unci the paper .stolen. That the paper, alone, waa 
the object of the thief was evident from the fact that he did not meddle with fifty dol- 
lars which laid beside it. 

" For many years Dimmock lived with Kerr, contentedly with his family, persuaded 
that his and their freedom were secure, and that they could not be again sold or sepa- 
rated from each other. That little money transaction between the man and his master 
was so entirely in accordance with the man's experience of its being in the usual way 
of business between white and black folks, that be took no special precaution against 
further knavery, nor even seemed to be aware that such precaution was possible. He 
trusted his master as if he had nothing to expect of him but the fairest and most gen- 
erous dealing. But the time came when he was to be disabused of any such misap- 
prehensions. At length Kerr sold him to one man, his wife to another, and scattered 
some of the children about among various owners. Then it was that despair seized 
him, and ho returned again to his original assertion, that he was a British subject, and 
wrongfully held in Slaveiy — a fact about which he had thought for many years it was 
wisest and most prudent to keep silence, lest he should be sold into the interior, or to 
the South, be separated for ever from his family, and lose all chance of ever regaining 
his liberty. His story seems to have obtained credence. One Hudson, who bought 
him of Kerr, believed it, and, probably considering that he might have made an unsafe 
investment, sent him to a trader for sale. A liquor dealer by the name of Davidson 
then bought him, but, or. learning his story, put him again in the market. Lastly, he 
was bought by Mr. Garman a little more than a year ago, who honestly permitted him 
to purchase himself, and to leave Savannah a free man when the price was paid. 

"So strange a tale, when made public, has not been allowed to pass uncon- 
tradicted. The Savannah papers have declared it to be untrue ; and a Mr. 
Fay — a northern man, but a resident of Savannah — has, in a letter to the New 
York Times, avowed his disbelief in some of its essential points. That it would 
be acknowledged as true, however, was not to be expected. Those most con- 
cerned in it have an obvious and direct interest in its disapproval ; and these, 
or some of these persons are undoubtedly responsible for the contradiction of 
the Savannah papers. The testimony of Mr. Fay may also, possibly, have an 
interested motive. He is known to have befriended Dimmock in Savannah, 
and being a Northern man it is, perhaps, best that he should free himself from 
any suspicion of having been privy to a statement made in a Northern paper 
so damaging to Southern morality and honor. But. all these contradictions, be 
it observed, identify the man as the person he professes to be — as having been 
a slave of some, at least, of the persons mentioned, from Judge Charlton down 
to Mr. Garman ; and of having purchased himself of the last-named gentleman. 
His story is thus corroborated in some very essential particulars, and contra- 
dicted only where we can reasonably expect nothing but denial. Miss Kerr, 
moreover, in her testimony before Judge Robertson, in the case of the child 
Ellen, said, she had long known that Dimmock claimed to be a British subject, and 
to have been taken a prisoner of war in the brig Peacock, and she believed it to be 
true. And this testimony is the more important that it was made voluntarily, 
when there was no opportunity for consultation with others who had a direct 
interest in concealing a fact, not only important in itself, but one from which the 
subsequent transactions naturally spring. But besides all this there was, accor- 
ding to Dimmock's statement, a Spaniard — long resident in Savannah, Mingo 
by name — who was a fellow-prisoner with him on board the Peacock, and ever 
after a firm friend. This man was familiar with the whole story, and, by the 
advice of a friend, he was taken before a magistrate and made affidavit to the 



12 

facts •within his knowledge. Mingo is dead, but the papers are now, as Dim- 
mock believes, in the hands of a certain lawyer in Savannah. This gentleman 
has been written to at different times by two different persons, but no reply 
has been received by either of them. If no such papers are in his hands, why 
does he not say so. If there were any, even merely negative evidence, that 
could be produced to disprove a tale inculpating so many Southern persons, 
and especially showing so conclusively how utterly destructive slavery is of all 
sense of honor and every dictate of honesty, such evidence, we believe, would 
be eagerly sought for and instantly produced. 

"We come now to Ellen, the grandchild. Dimmock believed that she was in this city 
when he arrived, and he was informed, as he thought, precisely where, by one who pro- 
fessed to be his friend. It was soon ascertained that the information was incorrect, and 
the person was sought for from whom it was received. He carefully kept out of the 
way, however, and evidently avoided both Dimmock and a messenger who went with 
him. For the purpose, apparently, of getting rid of them both, he gave them another, 
a second direction, which turned out to be as false as the first. All inquiries were 
baffled, and it seemed impossible to get any clue to the child. 

"So matters stood when Dimmock's story appeared in the Morning Tim-es. Whoever 
had possession of the child would, it was supposed, when thus warned of the presence 
of the grandfather, be careful to put her beyond his reach. It was afterwards ascer- 
tained that the conjecture was well founded, as the Misses Kerr left town the morning 
after the appearance of the article in the Times. Without then knowing this fact) 
however, but little hope was entertained of the recovery of Ellen. 

"But, as it happened, that which it was feared would be a serious obstacle in the 
way of the search, turned out to be a fortunate incident in aid of it. Information 
reached us — how, it would not be proper thus publicly to say — but information ;:s 
complete as authentic, and as direct as we could possibly wish for, in relation to the 
Misses Kerr, their past movements, their present residence, and their plans for the fu- 
ture. Their intentions, we were led to believe, were good: their only wish was to 
secure the happiness of the little girl, and to this end they had instituted a subscription 
for the purpose of raising the sum of 250 dollars, for which amount, it was said, their 
brother James Kerr, of Savannah, Dimmock's former master, was willing to emanci- 
pate her. A portion of this sum had already been raised, but a quietus was given to this 
plan by the publication of the story; for the benevolent individuals who had been disposed 
to aid in it were no longer willing to contribute to any fund which was to go to Mr. Jas. 
Kerr, whose gains out of the Dimmock Charlton family were thought to be already 
rather in advance of his claims. If the money was not raised, however, it was under- 
stood that the child was not to be returned to him; and as his sisters were npt supposed 
to be able to pay such a sum for her freedom, however well-disposed .they might and 
were believed to be toward her, the necessity of taking her from their custody was 
imperative. Mr. John Jay, the District-Attorney for this district, his father and 
grandfather have been before him, of all held in or threatened with slavery, was con- 
sulted, and it was determined that a writ of habeas corpus be asked of the Hon. Wm, 
H. Robertson, Judge of the County of Westchester. 

" The writ was issued and the parties sought for at Sing-Sing. They were only found, 
however, after a diligent search of an entire day, as there were some mistakes of names, 
which, there is some reason to suppose, where put in the way of any inquiry that might 
might be made as to the locality of the Misses Kerr and there protege, for the purpose 
of misleading. But they were at last found, and on the 12th inst. a hearing was had 
before Judge Robertson at Katonah. After the usual preliminary proceedings, Miss 
Kerr, who declined to appear by counsel, was called as a witness by Mr. Jay, and 
testified as follows : 

'"I reside in Savannah, Georgia; I am the tister of Mr. James Kerr, of Savannah; 



IS 

he is the trustee for myself and my sister ; the child Ellen, now present in Court, Is one 
of a large family of slaves belonging to rny brother and sister. I cannot say in whom 
in particular the title to her is vested ; I think in rny sister, Eugenia M. Kerr, who is 
now staying with me at Mr. David A. Griffin's, in the town of Sing Sing. I came 
on from the South the last Spring, arriving in New York about the 14th of April ; my 
sister Eugenia was already there, having come on last October; I brought Ellen with 
me with my sister's approval, and Ellen has lived with us ever since, at New York and 
Sing Sing; my brother knew that Ellen was coming on, and approved it; her mother 
had been sold by my brother, and her grandmother neglected her, and we took an in- 
terest in her on this occount; Ellen was valued at four hundred dollars ; her light 
complexion increased her value ; slaves of that complexion usally make clever servants ; 
my brother consented to take three hundred and fifty dollars ; the child's grandmother 
has frequently been at the North, and could not be persuaded to remain ; the mother 
of Ellen is the youngest daughter to Dimmock, who calls himself John Bull ; Dim- 
mock once belonged to my brother, Mr. James Kerr; Dimmock is now free; he was 
freed by his last Master, Mr. Benjamin Garnian — his price being raised in part by 
Dimmock himself, and in part by. contribution ; Ellen is about five years and six 
months old ; I brought her to the North because I did not know what would become 
of her; I had her entered on our departure from Savannah as my slave or servant; 
my sister and myself proposed to remain at the north for an indefinite time — for sev- 
eral years — visiting the South occasionally ; I have no wish that the child should be 
returned to slavery, but I did wish to raise the money, that wo should not lose her 
whole value ; my brother having thrown off fifty dollars, and being in embarrassed 
circumstances, could not afford to throw off any more ; I am very reluctant to have 
the child taken away from me; I am attached to her, and wish to keep her with me; 
I have already commenced to educate her ; her grandfather, Dimmock, knows how to 
read : I long since heard of his having been on board of the Peacock when taken by 
the Hornet, and I believe that part of his story is true.' 

"Mr. Jay then briefly submitted to the Court that upon the evidence there could be 
no doubt as to the rights of the child and law of the case, and moved that 
she be declared to be free. The Judge reviewed the facts and applied the statute, and 
without hesitation granted the motion. He remanded the child, however, into the care 
of the constable till Monday, the 17th, as he wished to take time to consider the ques- 
tion of guardianship. A good deal of emotion was shown by Miss Kerr and the child 
at parting, the former feeling unquestionably a warm interest in one whom she had, 
we hope, the will, though not the power, to protect from those who might at any 
moment return her to bondage, while the child only knew in a kind mistress an all 
sufficient friend. 

" On Monday, the 17th, the case again came up on the question of guardianship. 
Mr. Jay took the ground that the power to appoint a guardian did not lie with a 
County Court, and the Judge concurring in this view of the case, signed an order for 
the delivery of the child into the hands of its grandfather. A little scene had again to 
be gone through with when she parted from her kind friend, Mr. Hoyt, the constable ; 
hut she soon forgot her griefs in two happy hours in the family of her counsel, who 
sent her on her way rejoicing, with more gifts than probably her little hands ever 
clasped before. And she has been ever since among some new found friends, as con- 
tented and as good a child as if she had never known a parting or a change of place. 

" We may as well say, now and here, that the intention is to place her in some family, 
where she will be kindly, judiciously, and carefully brought up. If among our readers 
there are any who are disposed to take upon themselves such a charge, we shall bo 
glad to hear from them. Ellen is a bright mulatto, very intelligent, very tractable, 
good tempered and winning. She cannot fail, we think, to well repay the friends who 
shall be at the trouble of her nurture and education. Any letters in regard to her may 
be addressed to S. H. Gay, at this office." 



14 

John Bull, otherwise Dimniock Charlton, believing himself to be a British 
subject, or, at any rate, imagining that he had some claim to be considered 
such, having served on board a British man-of-war, and been taken prisoner 
whilst iu the British service, was anxious to come to England, especially as 
there lacked an important link in the chain of evidence necessary to establish 
his identity. He obtained a letter of introduction to Mr. John Cropper of Liv- 
erpool from the son of Judge Jay, who rescued John Bull's grandchild from 
Slavery under the circumstances narrated above, and was referred to us. For- 
tunately he succeeded, discovering in Greenwich Hospital a pensioner who was 
serving on board the Peacock at the time she was captured. The following is 
the declaration of this important witness: 

"'I, Thomas Teethowan, aged 61, native of Kenwen, near Truro, in the 
county of Cornwall, formerly on board the Peacock, an English brig of war, and 
now an inmate of Greenwich Hospital, do solemnly and sincerely declare, that 
I was serving in the capacity of servant to Captain William Peek, commander 
of the Peacock, an eighteen gun English brig of war, in February, One thou- 
sand eight hundred and twelve, when she was attacked off the Spanish Main 
and sunk, by the Hornet, a twenty gun ship, belonging to the United States of 
America, and commanded by Captain Lawrence ; that I was rated as a boy on 
the ship's books ; that there was on board a colored boy, who, to the best of 
my recollection at this distance of time, came on board at Demerara ; that dur- 
ing the engagement he remained in the captain's cabin, which was used as a 
cockpit ; that I remember his uttering several shrieks when our mainmast fell 
overboard ; that I saw that boy again on board the Hornet — he having been 
saved with others of the Peacock's crew as she went down ; that we were all 
conveyed as prisoners to New York, except the boy aforesaid, our colored cook 
(whose name was Gould,) and an American seaman who had been impressed and 
taken on board the Peacock. That I heard, when in prison, that these three per- 
had been conveyed away South, and that the boy was going to betaken to a place 
in Georgia they called Savannah ; that from the conversations I have had with 
the colored man, John Bull, otherwise Dimmock Charlton, and from the 
answers he has returned to the questions I have put to him I firmly believe him 
to be the same individual who came on board the Peacock at Demerara, was on 
board of her when she was sunk, and was taken to New York, and thence con- 
veyed to Savannah in Georgia. And I make this solemn Declaration, conscien- 
tiously believing the same to be true; and by virtue of the provisions of an Act 
made and passed in the sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the 
Fourth, intituled An Act to repeal an Act of the present session of Parliament, 
intituled An Act for the more effectual abolition of oaths and affirmations taken 
and made in various departments of the State, and to substitute declarations in 
lieu thereof, and for the more entire suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial 
oaths and affidavits, and to make other provisions for the abolition of unnecess- 
ary oaths. "Thomas Teethowan. 

"Declared at the Mansion House, in the City of London, this tenth daj' of 
December 1857, before me, 

"William Oubitt, Alderman." 



15 

[The following testimonials are appended in support of Dimmock Charlton's 
good character. For obvious reasons the signature to the last one is omitted. 
Many others are in his possession, voluntarily given by those who had known 
him in Savannah, Ga., New York, London, Eng., and other places:] 

51 Pine Street, New York, | 
November 17th, 1859. 

I have known John Bull, alias Dimmock Charlton, for about eighteen months, 
and from all I have seen of him, believe him to be an honest, sober man, and 
that a life of hardships and sufferings, gives -him some claim upon the 
benevolent. 

N. Sands. 



20 Nassau Street, N. Y., "» 
July 15th, 1858. f 

John Bull — Bear Sir — You have a perfect right to take your child where you 
please, without the consent of any one. There is no one but yourself to have 
any right over her. 

Yours, &c, 

Cbas. E. Whitehead. 



Philadelphia, January 20th, 1859. 

I hereby certify that the bearer, Dimmock Charlton, has been known to me 
for over twenty-five years, as a slave in the city of Savannah, state of Georgia; 
has always maintained a good character for honesty and sobriety. 

His wife and children are at present in bondage as slaves in the city of Sa- 
vannah, but cau no doubt be ransomed at fair prices, upon proper steps or ap- 
plication being resorted to, or addressed to the respective owners. 



Formerly of Savannah, Ga. 

P. S. — The wife of Dimmock is owned by G. B. Cumming. 
Daughter " " " "\V. H. May, 

Son " " " D. O'Byrne, 

Daughter " " " J. M, Tison, 

" " " Some party unknown, but the wife 

can tell by whom. 



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